Independent groups
Roll Call: Super PACs Make Move to Lobbying
By Eliza Newlin CarneyHigh-dollar super PACs and advocacy groups failed to score big wins in the recent elections, but they may have better luck with their next act: lobbying Capitol Hill. From anti-tax activists to environmental organizers, special interest players are pivoting to the policy arena and bringing their unrestricted super PACs with them. It’s a trend that worries campaign reform advocates, who warn that the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling may do more to distort policymaking than elections.
Commentary Magazine: 2012 Debunked Campaign Finance Fallacies
By Jonathan TobinRather than draw the only logical conclusion from Obama’s win and to pipe down about the evils of money in politics, the ideologues at the Times are undeterred. Laws such as the disastrous McCain-Feingold legislation that was largely overturned by Citizens United, or any of its equally unsuccessful predecessors, only serve to strengthen the position of incumbents and to reassert the power of mainstream media outlets like the Times, whose right to political speech is protected by the First Amendment.
Huffington Post: Time to Repeal Campaign Contribution Limits
By Bruce LedewitzThis past presidential election campaign demonstrated that the Supreme Court has bequeathed to America the worst of all campaign finance regimes — upholding campaign contribution limits to candidates, while striking down all independent spending limits, including restrictions on corporations.
Politico: Outspent Democratic super PAC made dollars count
By MANU RAJU and JOHN BRESNAHANDemocrat Elizabeth Warren and Republican Sen. Scott Brown made a highly publicized pledge in Massachusetts: Neither candidate would allow super PACs or other outside groups to dump unlimited — and anonymous — money into their hotly contested Senate race.But one Democratic super PAC got into the race anyway.
Huffington Post: Campaign Finance Reformers Get Back To Work After Record Election Spending
By Paul BlumenthalReform groups from the long-established Democracy 21, Common Cause and Public Citizen to the more recently created United Republic are advocating a range of proposals, some old and some new, aimed at reducing the role of money in elections and governance.
Washington Post: Stephen Colbert shuts down super PAC
By Sean SullivanComedy Central host Stephen Colbert has shut down the super PAC he started in 2011 to call attention to current campaign finance regulations, he announced in a letter Monday night.
The Hill: Super-PACs already planning for 2014 By Megan R. Wilson
By Megan R. WilsonElection Day has come and gone, but the super-PAC era is just beginning.
CBS: Small super PACs worked under the radar
By Phil Hirschkorn(CBS News) NEW YORK – When Ron Paul dropped out of this year’s race for the Republican presidential nomination, John Ramsey was looking for an outlet for his political energy.
Candidates and parties
Washington Post: A reformed Republican party
By George WillConservatives should jauntily sing as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers did in a year when the country’s chin was on the ground. Conservatives are hardly starting from scratch in their continuing courtship of the electorate, half of which embraced their message more warmly than it did this year’s messenger.
The Hill: Close House races bring pleas for more donations
By Kevin BogardusCandidates in close House races that have yet to be called are pleading with their donors for help as they lawyer up for possible recounts and court challenges.
